As a Red Sox fan, you love your team, you love the players, the ballpark, and of course the history. One of the tough things about being a Red Sox fan is that there are some parts of the team's history that aren't so great.

It's not the lack of World Series titles. Hey, no team wins every year, and there is something admirable about sticking with a team like the Red Sox who for years were successful but never quite successful enough to win the big one.

The tough thing about Red Sox history is also one of the tough things about American history. There's a regrettable history of poor race relations. The United States has made plenty of progress but there are still issues regarding race and class in this nation.

Sports as a prominent part of American society has been a window into our nation's history. Here too race has played a major role.

Boston has a spotty history to say the least. The Red Sox were the last team in the majors to integrate. Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers in April of 1947. It was 12 years later in 1959 when Boston promoted Pumpsie Green to the majors.

The Red Sox merely reflected Boston's own struggles with race and equality. Boston has a long history of racial tensions between black and white residents. There were riots and protests over desegregated school busing in the mid 1970s, for one example.

By the time the 1980s came around, the city had started to heal and the Red Sox were integrated -- although they had fewer African-American players than other baseball teams.

They had never had any player quite like Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd though. Boyd was a flamboyant African-American pitcher who won 16 games for the 1986 Red Sox. Whether fans liked or disliked him as a pitcher, he was a character that entertained nearly everyone with his antics.

In a recent interview with ESPN's Buster Olney Boyd made some significant revelations. The more publicized ones regard his rampant drug use during his baseball career. That shouldn't be too much of a shock: cocaine use was rampant in baseball during the 1980s and it was not a black or white issue.

Boyd made some other interesting comments regarding Jackie Robinson and how his arrival in the majors led to the eventual end of Negro League Baseball. Boyd expressed a wish that the Negro Leagues could have survived.

"I'm not real thankful to Jackie (Robinson) at all because I'm me, my style of baseball, the way I played it in the major leagues transpired from the Negro Leagues," said Boyd, whose father played in the Negro Leagues. - Dennis Boyd

The implication that Boyd has an issue with Jackie Robinson personally might make for a juicy storyline but a closer look at his next quote may prove more revealing.

"Now the kids don't even know the ballplayers anymore, it's so commercialized. And they wonder where the black ballplayer went. Well, black ballplayers went to jail. In the last 20 years, that's where they are." - Dennis Boyd

Perhaps this speaks to a broader view of how integration, society and race, along with the commercialization of nearly everything, can have a detrimental impact on those less fortunate.

David Leonard is an Associate Professor of Critical Culture, Race and Gender at Washington State University. He is also the author of the book "After Artest: The NBA and the Assault on Blackness." I asked Leonard about Boyd's first quote regarding Robinson.

"I really don't think he is actually criticizing Robinson but rather imagining how his career would have been had he played in a different context," said Leonard.

"I think he is talking how certain players get elevated as stars and they have to embody a certain persona (race, class matters). Also, maybe given the visibility of African Americans in basketball and football, that has impacted blacks in baseball."

He continued:

"Of course, the increased emphasis (financial) on the war on drugs and criminal justice has also come through divestment in programs, including baseball/little league/parks, etc. It reflects a divestment in the very institutions that have produced great players in the past. The erosion of public sport and the increased reliance on private enterprises has impacted African Americans," said Leonard.

One can agree or disagree with Mr. Leonard but it's worth noting how the comments by Boyd have been instantly spun.

It's tough to say that Boyd is making a statement that denigrates Robinson's legacy when the former Red Sox pitcher also makes introspective statements about the general state of African-American athletes, specifically those playing baseball.

Perhaps Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd isn't thankful to Jackie Robinson, but taken in context his views on the subject are more complex than it might seem.